Exodus 21:23

21:23 But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life,

Exodus 1:5

1:5 All the people ¹  who were directly descended ²  from Jacob numbered seventy. ³  But Joseph was already in Egypt, ⁴ 

Exodus 15:9

15:9 The enemy said, ‘I will chase, ⁵  I will overtake,

I will divide the spoil;

my desire ⁶  will be satisfied on them.

I will draw ⁷  my sword, my hand will destroy them.’ ⁸ 

Exodus 21:30

21:30 If a ransom is set for him, ⁹  then he must pay the redemption for his life according to whatever amount was set for him.

Exodus 4:19

4:19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back ¹⁰  to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” ¹¹ 

Exodus 12:19

12:19 For seven days ¹²  yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast – that person ¹³  will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner ¹⁴  or one born in the land.

Exodus 16:16

16:16 “This is what ¹⁵  the Lord has commanded: ¹⁶  ‘Each person is to gather ¹⁷  from it what he can eat, an omer ¹⁸  per person ¹⁹  according to the number ²⁰  of your people; ²¹  each one will pick it up ²²  for whoever lives ²³  in his tent.’”

Exodus 23:9

23:9 “You must not oppress ²⁴  a foreigner, since you know the life ²⁵  of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 30:15

30:15 The rich are not to increase it, ²⁶  and the poor are not to pay less than the half shekel when giving ²⁷  the offering of the Lord, to make atonement ²⁸  for your lives.

Exodus 12:4

12:4 If any household is too small ²⁹  for a lamb, ³⁰  the man ³¹  and his next-door neighbor ³²  are to take ³³  a lamb according to the number of people – you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. ³⁴ 

Exodus 12:15-16

12:15 For seven days ³⁵  you must eat ³⁶  bread made without yeast. ³⁷  Surely ³⁸  on the first day you must put away yeast from your houses because anyone who eats bread made with yeast ³⁹  from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off ⁴⁰  from Israel.

12:16 On the first day there will be a holy convocation, ⁴¹  and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind ⁴²  on them, only what every person will eat – that alone may be prepared for you.

Exodus 30:12

30:12 “When you take a census ⁴³  of the Israelites according to their number, ⁴⁴  then each man is to pay a ransom ⁴⁵  for his life to the Lord when you number them, ⁴⁶  so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.

Exodus 30:16

30:16 You are to receive the atonement money ⁴⁷  from the Israelites and give it for the service ⁴⁸  of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial ⁴⁹  for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement ⁵⁰  for your lives.”

Exodus 31:14

31:14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it ⁵¹  must surely be put to death; indeed, ⁵²  if anyone does ⁵³  any ⁵⁴  work on it, then that person will be cut off from among his ⁵⁵  people.

[1:5]  ¹ tn The word נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul.” But the word refers to the whole person, the body with the soul, and so “life” or “person” is frequently a better translation.

[1:5]  ² tn The expression in apposition to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) literally says “those who went out from the loins of Jacob.” This distinguishes the entire company as his direct descendants.

[1:5]  ³ sn Gen 46 describes in more detail Jacob’s coming to Egypt with his family. The Greek text of Exod 1:5 and of Gen 46:27 and two Qumran manuscripts, have the number as seventy-five, counting the people a little differently. E. H. Merrill in conjunction with F. Delitzsch notes that the list in Gen 46 of those who entered Egypt includes Hezron and Hamul, who did so in potentia, since they were born after the family entered Egypt. Joseph’s sons are also included, though they too were born in Egypt. “The list must not be pressed too literally” (E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 49).

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and Joseph was in Egypt” (so ASV). The disjunctive word order in Hebrew draws attention to the fact that Joseph, in contrast to his brothers, did not come to Egypt at the same time as Jacob.

[15:9]  ¹ sn W. C. Kaiser observes the staccato phrases that almost imitate the heavy, breathless heaving of the Egyptians as, with what reserve of strength they have left, they vow, “I will…, I will…, I will…” (“Exodus,” EBC 2:395).

[15:9]  ² tn The form is נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”). But this word refers to the whole person, the body and the soul, or better, a bundle of appetites in a body. It therefore can figuratively refer to the desires or appetites (Deut 12:15; 14:26; 23:24). Here, with the verb “to be full” means “to be satisfied”; the whole expression might indicate “I will be sated with them” or “I will gorge myself.” The greedy appetite was to destroy.

[15:9]  ³ tn The verb רִיק (riq) means “to be empty” in the Qal, and in the Hiphil “to empty.” Here the idea is to unsheathe a sword.

[15:9]  ⁴ tn The verb is יָרַשׁ (yarash), which in the Hiphil means “to dispossess” or “root out.” The meaning “destroy” is a general interpretation.

[21:30]  ¹ sn The family of the victim would set the amount for the ransom of the man guilty of criminal neglect. This practice was common in the ancient world, rare in Israel. If the family allowed the substitute price, then the man would be able to redeem his life.

[4:19]  ¹ tn The text has two imperatives, “Go, return”; if these are interpreted as a hendiadys (as in the translation), then the second is adverbial.

[4:19]  ² sn The text clearly stated that Pharaoh sought to kill Moses; so this seems to be a reference to Pharaoh’s death shortly before Moses’ return. Moses was forty years in Midian. In the 18th dynasty, only Pharaoh Thutmose III had a reign of the right length (1504-1450 b.c.) to fit this period of Moses’ life. This would place Moses’ returning to Egypt near 1450 b.c., in the beginning of the reign of Amenhotep II, whom most conservatives identify as the pharaoh of the exodus. Rameses II, of course, had a very long reign (1304-1236). But if he were the one from whom Moses fled, then he could not be the pharaoh of the exodus, but his son would be – and that puts the date of the exodus after 1236, a date too late for anyone. See E. H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests, 62.

[12:19]  ¹ tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12, §56).

[12:19]  ² tn The term is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), often translated “soul.” It refers to the whole person, the soul within the body. The noun is feminine, agreeing with the feminine verb “be cut off.”

[12:19]  ³ tn Or “alien”; or “stranger.”

[16:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ² tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation – “here and now he commands you.”

[16:16]  ³ tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ⁴ sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”

[16:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ⁶ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ⁷ tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ⁹ tn “lives” has been supplied.

[23:9]  ¹ tn The verb means “to crush.” S. R. Driver notes that in this context this would probably mean with an unfair judgment in the courts (Exodus, 239).

[23:9]  ² tn Heb “soul, life” – “you know what it feels like.”

[30:15]  ¹ tn Or “pay more.”

[30:15]  ² tn The form is לָתֵת (latet), the Qal infinitive construct with the lamed preposition. The infinitive here is explaining the preceding verbs. They are not to increase or diminish the amount “in paying the offering.” The construction approximates a temporal clause.

[30:15]  ³ tn This infinitive construct (לְכַפֵּר, lÿkhapper) provides the purpose of the giving the offering – to atone.

[12:4]  ¹ sn Later Judaism ruled that “too small” meant fewer than ten (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 88).

[12:4]  ² tn The clause uses the comparative min (מִן) construction: יִמְעַט הַבַּיִת מִהְיֹת מִשֶּׂה (yim’at habbayit mihyot miseh, “the house is small from being from a lamb,” or “too small for a lamb”). It clearly means that if there were not enough people in the household to have a lamb by themselves, they should join with another family. For the use of the comparative, see GKC 430 §133.c.

[12:4]  ³ tn Heb “he and his neighbor”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “who is near to his house.”

[12:4]  ⁵ tn The construction uses a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive after a conditional clause: “if the household is too small…then he and his neighbor will take.”

[12:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “[every] man according to his eating.”

[12:15]  ¹ tn This expression is an adverbial accusative of time. The feast was to last from the 15th to the 21st of the month.

[12:15]  ² tn Or “you will eat.” The statement stresses their obligation – they must eat unleavened bread and avoid all leaven.

[12:15]  ³ tn The etymology of מַצּוֹת (matsot, “unleavened bread,” i.e., “bread made without yeast”) is uncertain. Suggested connections to known verbs include “to squeeze, press,” “to depart, go out,” “to ransom,” or to an Egyptian word “food, cake, evening meal.” For a more detailed study of “unleavened bread” and related matters such as “yeast” or “leaven,” see A. P. Ross, NIDOTTE 4:448-53.

[12:15]  ⁴ tn The particle serves to emphasize, not restrict here (B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 183, n. 15).

[12:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “every eater of leavened bread.” The participial phrase stands at the beginning of the clause as a casus pendens, that is, it stands grammatically separate from the sentence. It names a condition, the contingent occurrences of which involve a further consequence (GKC 361 §116.w).

[12:15]  ⁶ tn The verb וְנִכְרְתָה (vÿnikhrÿtah) is the Niphal perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it is a common formula in the Law for divine punishment. Here, in sequence to the idea that someone might eat bread made with yeast, the result would be that “that soul [the verb is feminine] will be cut off.” The verb is the equivalent of the imperfect tense due to the consecutive; a translation with a nuance of the imperfect of possibility (“may be cut off”) fits better perhaps than a specific future. There is the real danger of being cut off, for while the punishment might include excommunication from the community, the greater danger was in the possibility of divine intervention to root out the evildoer (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 94). Gesenius lists this as the use of a perfect with a vav consecutive after a participle (a casus pendens) to introduce the apodosis (GKC 337 §112.mm).

[12:16]  ¹ sn This refers to an assembly of the people at the sanctuary for religious purposes. The word “convocation” implies that the people were called together, and Num 10:2 indicates they were called together by trumpets.

[12:16]  ² tn Heb “all/every work will not be done.” The word refers primarily to the work of one’s occupation. B. Jacob (Exodus, 322) explains that since this comes prior to the fuller description of laws for Sabbaths and festivals, the passage simply restricts all work except for the preparation of food. Once the laws are added, this qualification is no longer needed. Gesenius translates this as “no manner of work shall be done” (GKC 478-79 §152.b).

[30:12]  ¹ tn The expression is “when you take [lift up] the sum [head] of the Israelites.”

[30:12]  ² tn The form is לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם (lifqudehem, “according to those that are numbered of/by them”) from the verb פָּקַד (paqad, “to visit”). But the idea of this word seems more to be that of changing or determining the destiny, and so “appoint” and “number” become clear categories of meaning for the word. Here it simply refers to the census, but when this word is used for a census it often involves mustering an army for a military purpose. Here there is no indication of a war, but it may be laying down the principle that when they should do this, here is the price. B. Jacob (Exodus, 835) uses Num 31 as a good illustration, showing that the warrior was essentially a murderer, if he killed anyone in battle. For this reason his blood was forfeit; if he survived he must pay a כֹּפֶר (kofer) because every human life possesses value and must be atoned for. The payment during the census represented a “presumptive ransom” so that they could not be faulted for what they might do in war.

[30:12]  ³ tn The “ransom” is כֹּפֶר (kofer), a word related to words translated “atone” and “atonement.” Here the noun refers to what is paid for the life. The idea is that of delivering or redeeming by a substitute – here the substitute is the money. If they paid the amount, their lives would be safe (W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:473).

[30:12]  ⁴ tn The temporal clause uses a preposition, an infinitive construct, and then an accusative. The subject is supplied: “in numbering them” means “when [you] number them.” The verb could also be rendered “when you muster them.”

[30:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the silver of the atonements.” The genitive here is the result (as in “sheep of slaughter”) telling what the money will be used for (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 11, §44).

[30:16]  ² sn The idea of “service” is maintenance and care of the sanctuary and its service, meaning the morning and evening sacrifices and the other elements to be used.

[30:16]  ³ sn S. R. Driver says this is “to keep Jehovah in continual remembrance of the ransom which had been paid for their lives” (Exodus, 334).

[30:16]  ⁴ tn The infinitive could be taken in a couple of ways here. It could be an epexegetical infinitive: “making atonement.” Or it could be the infinitive expressing result: “so that atonement will be made for your lives.”

[31:14]  ¹ tn This clause is all from one word, a Piel plural participle with a third, feminine suffix: מְחַלְלֶיהָ (mÿkhalleha, “defilers of it”). This form serves as the subject of the sentence. The word חָלַל (khalal) is the antonym of קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be holy”). It means “common, profane,” and in the Piel stem “make common, profane” or “defile.” Treating the Sabbath like an ordinary day would profane it, make it common.

[31:14]  ² tn This is the asseverative use of כִּי (ki) meaning “surely, indeed,” for it restates the point just made (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[31:14]  ³ tn Heb “the one who does.”

[31:14]  ⁴ tn “any” has been supplied.

[31:14]  ⁵ tn Literally “her” (a feminine pronoun agreeing with “soul/life,” which is grammatically feminine).